U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics August 2020, NCJ 252072 Bulletin Probation and Parole in the United States, 2017-2018 Danielle Kaeble, BJS Statistician Mariel Alper, Ph.D., former BJS Statistician n the United States, the adult population on FIGURE 1 probation or parole declined from 4,508,900 Adults on probation or parole, 2008-2018 at the end of 2017 to 4,399,000 at the end Iof 2018, a decrease of 2.4% (figure 1).1 An Year-end population estimated 1 in 58 adults in the U.S. were under 6,000,000 community supervision at year-end 2018. Adults Total community supervision* on probation accounted for about 80% of those 5,000,000 under community supervision, while parolees 4 000 000 made up the remaining 20%. , , Probation From the end of 2017 to the end of 2018, 3,000,000 the adult probation population declined 2,000,000 from 3,647,200 to 3,540,000 (figure 2). This 2.9% decrease drove the entire decline in 1,000,000 the population of adults under community Parole supervision. The adult parole population 0 remained relatively steady, increasing 0.3%, ’092008 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 from 875,000 persons in 2017 to 878,000 in 2018 Note: Counts for 2016 and earlier may have been revised based (figure 3). on updated reporting and may differ from numbers in past reports. Counts are for December 31 of each year. See table 1 for counts from 2008 to 2018. 1The community-supervision population excludes parolees also on probation to avoid double-counting. *Details may not sum to totals because the community-supervision counts were adjusted to exclude parolees who were also on See Methodology. probation. See table 3 for counts of parolees also on probation. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Annual Probation Survey and Annual Parole Survey, 2008-2018. HIGHLIGHTS The total number of adults on probation or parole An estimated 1 in 58 adults in the U.S. were under decreased by an estimated 109,900 offenders community supervision at the end of 2018, down (down 2%) from 2017 to 2018, and by 694,400 from 1 in 45 in 2008. (down 14%) from 2008 to 2018. The adult probation population declined 3% from The total community-supervision population in 2017 to 2018 and 17% from 2008 to 2018, while 2018 was at its lowest level since 1998. the adult parole population increased 0.3% from The portion of adults on community supervision 2017 to 2018 and 6% from 2008 to 2018. fell 1.5% from 2016 to 2017, 3% from 2017 to The adult probation rate fell 25% from 2008 to 2018, and 22% from 2008 to 2018. 2018, while the adult parole rate fell 4%. In 2018, the portion of adults on community In 2018, probation exits outpaced entries for the supervision was at its lowest level since 1990. tenth consecutive year, while parole exits in 2017 exceeded entries for the first time since 2009. TISTICS YEARS OF STA The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) collected the data FIGURE 2 in this report through the Annual Probation Survey, Annual percent change of adults on probation, the Annual Parole Survey, and the Federal Justice 2008-2018 Statistics Program. Data are collected on adults placed on supervision (entries) or removed from supervision Annual percent change (exits) during the reporting year and on population 0.0 characteristics at year-end. These are the only national data collections that cover community corrections -0.5 in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. federal system. -1.0 For this report, an adult is defined as any person -1.5 subject to the jurisdiction of an adult court or correctional agency. Reporting methods for some -2.0 probation and parole agencies have changed over time. (See Methodology.) Appendix tables 1 through 3 and 5 -2.5 through 7 present additional 2018 data by jurisdiction. Appendix tables 9 through 11 and 13 through 15 present additional 2017 data by jurisdiction. -3.0 -3.5 Definition of probation and parole ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 Note: Counts for 2016 and earlier may have been revised based on Probation is a court-ordered period of correctional updated reporting and may differ from numbers in past reports. See supervision in the community, generally as an table 1 for counts from 2008 to 2018. Annual percent change is the difference in population from January 1 to December 31 for 2016 and from alternative to incarceration. In some cases, probation December 31 to December 31 for all other years. See Probation and Parole may be a combined sentence involving incarceration in the United States, 2016 (NCJ 251148, BJS, April 2018). followed by a period of community supervision. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Annual Probation Survey, 2008-2018. Parole is a period of conditional supervised release in the community following a term in state or federal FIGURE 3 prison. Parolees include persons released through Annual percent change of adults on parole, 2008-2018 discretionary or mandatory supervised release Annual percent change from prison. 2.0 The definition of parole used in this report may differ from those in other statistical series published by the 1.5 Bureau of Justice Statistics. 1.0 0.5 0.0 -0.5 -1.0 -1.5 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 Note: Counts for 2016 and earlier may have been revised based on updated reporting and may differ from numbers in past reports. See table 1 for counts from 2008 to 2018. Annual percent change is the difference in population from December 31 to the previous December 31 for each year. Annual percent change from 2007 to 2008 was less than 0.01%. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Annual Parole Survey, 2008-2018. PROBATION AND PAROLE IN THE UNITED STATES, 2017-2018 | AUGUST 2020 2 The decrease in probationers drove the overall has declined each year since 2007, when it peaked at decline in adults under community supervision 5,115,500 (not shown in tables). In comparison, the parole population increased 6% from 2008 to 2018, and From the end of 2016 to the end of 2017, the total 2018 marked its fifth consecutive year of growth. community-supervision population decreased 0.6%, from 4,537,100 to 4,508,900 (table 1). The adult The rate of adults supervised in the community fell probation population decreased by 25,900 (0.7%) over to 1,726 per 100,000 U.S. adult residents in 2018 that time, while the adult parole population was relatively stable (increasing less than 0.05%). From 2017 to 2018, The rate of adults under community supervision the community-supervision population declined from declined 3% from the end of 2017 to the end of 2018, 4,508,900 to 4,399,000, as the number of adults on from 1,784 to 1,726 offenders per 100,000 U.S. adult probation decreased by 107,300 and the number on residents (table 2). During that time, the rate of adults parole increased by 3,000. Collectively, from 2016 to on probation declined 4% (from 1,443 to 1,389 per 2018, the total number of adults under community 100,000), and the rate of adults on parole decreased supervision declined 3.0%. During this 2-year span, 0.6%, from 346 to 344 per 100,000. From 2016 to 2017, persons on probation declined by 133,100 adults, while the rate of adults on community supervision fell 1.5%, persons on parole increased by 3,200 adults. So the as the probation rate fell 1.6% and the parole rate fell overall decline in the total number of adults under 0.9%. In 2018, the community-supervision rate was at community supervision was due to the decline in the its lowest level since 1990, when it was 1,720 per 100,000 probation population. (not shown in tables). It decreased 22% from 2008 to 2018 and 1.9% from 1998 to 2018 (not shown in tables). In 2018, the community-supervision population was The community-supervision and probation rates have at its lowest level since 1998, when it was 4,122,400 decreased for 11 consecutive years since 2008, while the (not shown in tables). It decreased 14% from 2008 parole rate has decreased since 2015. to 2018. The community-supervision population has declined each year since 2007. The probation population TABLE 2 Community-supervision rates of U.S. adult residents, TABLE 1 2008-2018 Adults under community supervision 2008-2018 , Per 100,000 U.S. adult residents U.S. adult residents on— Year Total* Probation Parole Community Community 2008 5,093,400 4,271,200 826,100 Year supervisiona,b Probation Parole supervisiona,b Probation Parole 2009 5,019,900 4,199,800 824,600 2008 2,202 1,847 357 1 in 45 1 in 54 1 in 280 2010 4,888,500 4,055,900 840,800 2009 2,148 1,797 353 1 in 47 1 in 56 1 in 283 2011 4,818,300 3,973,800 855,500 2010 2,067 1,715 356 1 in 48 1 in 58 1 in 281 2012 4,790,700 3,944,900 858,400 2011 2,017 1,663 358 1 in 50 1 in 60 1 in 279 2013 4,749,800 3,912,900 849,500 2012 1,984 1,634 356 1 in 50 1 in 61 1 in 281 2014 4,713,200 3,868,400 857,700 2013 1,946 1,603 348 1 in 51 1 in 62 1 in 287 2015 4,650,900 3,789,800 870,500 2014 1,911 1,568 348 1 in 52 1 in 64 1 in 288 2016 4,537,100 3,673,100 874,800 2015 1,872 1,526 350 1 in 53 1 in 66 1 in 285 2017 4,508,900 3,647,200 875,000 2016 1,811 1,466 349 1 in 55 1 in 68 1 in 287 2018 4,399,000 3,540,000 878,000 2017 1,784 1,443 346 1 in 56 1 in 69 1 in 289 2018 1 726 1 389 344 1 in 58 1 in 72 1 in 290 Percent change, , , December 31 Note: Counts for 2016 and earlier may have been revised based on updated reporting and may differ from numbers in past reports.